Every year, metalworkers around the globe look forward to hearing from a group of cutting tool experts to showcase new technologies. The 2025 was no exception. WALTER EWAG, under the umbrella of the UNITED GRINDING Group, hosted the Open House 2025 at their Tübingen headquarters. This year’s event showcased cutting-edge innovations that not only drive the industry today, but also redefine the future of precision tool machining, automation, and service solutions.
The conference started by presenting a rich history of WALTER EWAG, looking back to 1919, when Richard Walter founded the company; “Montanwerke Walter“, and seeing its global success as an innovation provider to the tool industry with a lot of milestones over a century of service years. With its 600 employees and a presence in more than 40 countries around the globe, the company is highly recognized as a leader in the grinding, eroding, measuring, and laser technology sectors. Furthermore, WALTER EWAG is the only tool grinding machine manufacturer that is also offering measuring technology, differentiating the company from the rest of the market.
The Open House 2025 highlighted WALTER EWAG’s latest developments on six interesting topics as follows.
Automated Tool Production (ATP)
Automated Tool Production (ATP) was one of the stars of this year’s OPEN HOUSE. It addresses demand for operational efficiency and skilled labor shortages. This is achievable by strategically combine machine set-up, automatic compensating and linked quality control. The ATP system’s flexibility and user-friendly concept promise to transform production floors, with its very easy to implement this in your production.
ATP’s RoboCell and the mobile robot AMR units seamlessly connect grinding, eroding, and measuring systems, enabling fully automated production environments. This combination also allows for retrofit ability, no downtime of the machines, and
buffer spaces for loading and unloading. ATP offers scalability of existing machines without altering production layouts and improved efficiency and shorten cycle times.
VISION LASER
To cope with trend towards CRFP and lightweight alloys in automotive and aerospace industry to reduce fuel consumption, WALTER introduces the cutting solution offering tighter tolerances, increased tool life and process control and increased complexity. The new WALTER machine called VISION LASER features innovative laser technology, industry proven and highly reliable delivering breakout-free cutting edges, chip breaker processing, and superior surface quality. It’s cost-efficient alternative to wire eroding method. It’s designed Fast and efficient machining of super- hard materials while being environmentally friendly, no need of consumables such as wires, cooling lubricant.
HELICHECK NANO
HELICHECK NANO, the world-first measuring machine engineered to support the growing demand for micro and nano tools in the fields of electronics, mold making and medical technology. Equipped with dual backlight systems, high-resolution cameras, and a microscope turret, the HELICHECK NANO delivers the repeatability and the accuracy of this measuring machine is less than 0.5 microns. It sets new industry standards for quality control of tools as small as 0.1 mm in diameter.
Fire Stop & Go
The introduction of Fire Stop & Go feature designed for reliable safety with the WALTER eroding machines. This unique feature addresses the age-old challenge of fire risks in eroding machines. The loop of actions explains that when fire will be detected, sources of fire-generator; coolant and spindle are switched off. When the Fire Stop & Go Analyse is completed, generator, coolant and spindle are switched on and the eroding process resumes. These features offer customer benefits including improved productivity due to minimized downtime, Cost savings due to less fire damage in the machine, and cost and resource savings thanks to less CO2 bottle exchange.
HELITRONIC RAPID
The event will also showcase HELITRONIC RAPID, WALTER EWAG’s new entry-level tool grinding machine with 5 CNC-controlled axes especially for the re-sharpening and production of tools. Designed for small tools, Diameter range 1 to 16 mm for production and 3 to 100 mm for re-sharpening, machining length up to 255 mm, and unit weight up to 30 kg. it offers a cost-effective solution for businesses looking to enter the market with less initial cost.
WE CARE Maintenance Program and Customer Portal
The last session comprised two features; 1. WE CARE Maintenance Program
2. Customer Portal – on Manufacturer-neutral Platform. The We Care program offers customers a wide range of maintenance options, including the base package and add-on package. Highlights of the maintenance program includes digital geometry assessment, axle measurement with fingerprint, storage of measurement data on customer machine, and visualization of wear by comparing several measurements.
Last but not least, the Transaction Network, a manufacturer-neutral platform, addresses the common frustration of multiple portals for different machines. It’s designed to help customers with streamlines asset management, technical documentation access, and procurement processes.
A Lot To Take Away
WALTER EWAG’s 2025 lineup of innovations not only brought the latest innovation and technology updates that truly benefit metalworkers and people in this business, but it also reflected a deep understanding of market trends and customer needs. From addressing labor shortages through the company’s most advanced Automated Tool Production (ATP) to pushing the boundaries of precision in micro-tool measurement, and addressing the safety feature for the eroding machine, the company is truly positioning itself at the forefront of the tool manufacturing industry.
While the conference was hands-on presented, the enthusiasm of the speakers was admirable too. We appreciate WALTER EWAG for all the effort to make the Open House 2025 a memorable event. Looking forward to Open House 2026!
More information about Open House 2025: www.walter-machines.com
www.walter-machines.com
Article by: MEGA Tech & W.P. P. Engineering Co., Ltd. < Click Here